Jordaan’s opponents face uphill battle for Safa presidency

Such is the tension and intrigue that usually accompanies the South African Football Association’s (Safa’s) presidential race that it often gives the ANC’s contest a serious run for its money.

The road to that spacious corner office with an impressive view of Johannesburg is not for the fainthearted and to enter into the race as a candidate, one needs to have a skin thicker than most.

The Safa regions will appoint new leadership on March 24, but if the events of the past weeks are anything to go by that date cannot come a moment too soon.

It has certainly been a bruising battle since incumbent Danny Jordaan put his hand up in 2017 for re-election.

MAFORVANE ADDED THAT NONKONYANA CANNOT STAND AGAINST JORDAAN AS HE HAS NEVER BEEN REINSTATED AFTER HIS EXPULSION BY SAFA IN 2014

Former Safa vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana and erstwhile Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe are the pretenders to the throne.

A little birdie tells me that other individuals are lurking in the shadows but they have preferred to remain silent for the time being.

These individuals, I’m told, are very powerful and are biding their time, assessing the situation and taking stock of the climate within Safa before deciding whether to announce themselves to the nation.

It is often that kind of environment — few ever dare to play open cards early in the game and a clearer picture usually emerges closer to the election day.

Meanwhile Nonkonyana and Radebe have been doing most of the talking.

The problem is that the eligibility of the two gentlemen has come under scrutiny and Safa national executive committee member and Football Transformation Forum secretary-general Mzwandile Maforvane says neither can run for president.

Radebe was ineligible as he did not meet key requirements of the electoral code, he said.

Maforvane told this columnist a few days ago that Nonkonyana owed Safa almost R900,000 after losing several court cases against the association. More tellingly, Maforvane added that Nonkonyana could not stand against Jordaan as he had not been reinstated after his expulsion by Safa in 2014.

‘‘First of all‚ Chief [Nonkonyana] was expelled as a member of Safa by the regions in 2014‚” Maforvane said.

“This means he is still not a member of Safa.

“He has never appealed his expulsion and the regions have never reinstated him.

‘‘Secondly‚ he took Safa to court on numerous occasions and he lost all those cases with costs. To my knowledge‚ he has never paid any of the costs and he owes Safa in the region of R900,000,” Maforvane said.

This has upset Nonkonyana no end and he suggested a few days ago that the Safa officials were trying to make sure that no one challenged Jordaan.

He said he was challenging his expulsion in the High Court in Johannesburg and the matter would be heard on January 29.

Nonkonyana called a media conference and fired back at Maforvane, daring Safa officials to attach his property or take him to court if they really believe that he owed the national body R900,000.

He said he would challenge the association’s recent financial results.

Safa reported a R23.1m surplus at its ordinary meeting at the Sandton Convention Centre in December after managing to claw its way out of a R45m deficit in the previous financial year.

But Nonkonyana is seemingly not impressed and he suggested there might have been something untoward that led to the recovery.

“My financial gurus are on it and we are going to tell you the truth,” he said.

Safa has threatened legal action against him over his allegations and has reiterated that he is ineligible to run for president.

It will certainly be a bruising battle and Nonkonyana is just getting started.